MARC Record from Marygrove College

LEADER: 06439cam a2200925 a 4500
001 ocm12908838
003 OCoLC
005 20191109072635.1
008 851104s1985 nyu b 001 0 eng
010 $a 85042890
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019 $a1020187433$a1047690693
020 $a039451680X
020 $a9780394516806
020 $a0394751612
020 $a9780394751610
029 1 $aAU@$b000004219560
029 1 $aDEBBG$bBV000388630
029 1 $aGBVCP$b017362938
029 1 $aGEBAY$b428444
029 1 $aNZ1$b8102332
029 1 $aUNITY$b049977652
035 $a(OCoLC)12908838$z(OCoLC)1020187433$z(OCoLC)1047690693
043 $an-usp--
050 00 $aHC107.A17$bW67 1985
060 4 $aHC107.A17$bW67 1985
070 0 $aHC107.A17W67$b1985
072 0 $aP200
072 0 $aB500
082 00 $a333.91/00978$219
084 $aRU 55363$2rvk
049 $aMAIN
100 1 $aWorster, Donald,$d1941-
245 10 $aRivers of empire :$bwater, aridity, and the growth of the American West /$cDonald Worster.
250 $a1st ed.
260 $aNew York :$bPantheon Books,$c©1985.
300 $ax, 402 pages ;$c24 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
338 $avolume$bnc$2rdacarrier
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references (pages 339-388) and index.
520 $aWhen Henry David Thoreau went for his daily walk, he would consult his instincts on which direction to follow. More often than not his inner compass pointed west or southwest. "The future lies that way to me," he explained, "and the earth seems more unexhausted and richer on that side." In his own imaginative way, Thoreau was imitating the countless young pioneers, prospectors, and entrepreneurs who were zealously following Horace Greeley's famous advice to "go west." Yet while the epic chapter in American history opened by these adventurous men and women is filled with stories of frontier hardship, we rarely think of one of their greatest problems--the lack of water resources. And the same difficulty that made life so troublesome for early settlers remains one of the most pressing concerns in the western states of the late-twentieth century. The American West, blessed with an abundance of earth and sky but cursed with a scarcity of life's most fundamental need, has long dreamed of harnessing all its rivers to produce unlimited wealth and power. In Rivers of Empire, award-winning historian Donald Worster tells the story of this dream and its outcome. He shows how, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Mormons were the first attempting to make that dream a reality, damming and diverting rivers to irrigate their land. He follows this intriguing history through the 1930s, when the federal government built hundreds of dams on every major western river, thereby laying the foundation for the cities and farms, money and power of today's West. Yet while these cities have become paradigms of modern American urban centers, and the farms successful high-tech enterprises, Worster reminds us that the costs have been extremely high. Along with the wealth has come massive ecological damage, a redistribution of power to bureaucratic and economic elites, and a class conflict still on the upswing. As a result, the future of this "hydraulic West" is increasingly uncertain, as water continues to be a scarce resource, inadequate to the demand, and declining in quality. Rivers of Empire represents a radically new vision of the American West and its historical significance. Showing how ecological change is inextricably intertwined with social evolution, and reevaluating the old mythic and celebratory approach to the development of the West, Worster offers the most probing, critical analysis of the region to date. He shows how the vast region encompassing our western states, while founded essentially as colonies, have since become the true seat of the American "Empire." How this imperial West rose out of desert, how it altered the course of nature there, and what it has meant for Thoreau's (and our own) mythic search for freedom and the American Dream, are the central themes of this eloquent and thought-provoking story--a story that begins and ends with water.$cAmazon.
590 $bInternet Archive - 2
590 $bInternet Archive 2
651 0 $aWest (U.S.)$xEconomic conditions.
650 0 $aWater resources development$zWest (U.S.)$xHistory.
650 0 $aWater-supply$zWest (U.S.)$xHistory.
650 0 $aHydrology$zWest (U.S.)
651 0 $aWest (U.S.)$xHistory.
651 1 $aWest (U.S.)$xEconomic conditions.
651 1 $aWest (U.S.)$xHistory.
651 4 $aWest (U.S.)$xEconomic conditions
651 4 $aWest (U.S.)$xHistory
650 04 $aWater resources development$xWest (U.S.)$xHistory
650 04 $aWater-supply$xWest (U.S.)$xHistory
650 04 $aHydrology$xWest (U.S.).
650 6 $aRessources en eau$xExploitation$zÉtats-Unis (Ouest)$xHistoire.
650 6 $aEau$xApprovisionnement$zÉtats-Unis (Ouest)$xHistoire.
650 6 $aHydrologie$zÉtats-Unis (Ouest)
651 6 $aÉtats-Unis (Ouest)$xHistoire.
651 6 $aÉtats-Unis (Ouest)$xConditions économiques.
650 7 $aEconomic history.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst00901974
650 7 $aHydrology.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst00965147
650 7 $aWater resources development.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst01171955
650 7 $aWater-supply.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst01172350
651 7 $aWest United States.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst01243255
650 7 $aWirtschaftsentwicklung$2gnd
650 7 $aWasserreserve$2gnd
651 7 $aUSA$xWeststaaten$2gnd
650 7 $aWater$zWest (U.S.)$2sears
650 07 $aWasserreserve.$2swd
650 07 $aWirtschaftsentwicklung.$2swd
651 7 $aUSA$xWeststaaten.$2swd
653 0 $aGeschichte$a1850-1985
655 7 $aHistory.$2fast$0(OCoLC)fst01411628
776 08 $iOnline version:$aWorster, Donald, 1941-$tRivers of empire.$b1st ed.$dNew York : Pantheon Books, ©1985$w(OCoLC)646877881
938 $aBaker and Taylor$bBTCP$n85042890 //r872$c$24.95
938 $aYBP Library Services$bYANK$n339481
994 $a92$bERR
976 $a31927001239620